Why I Automate

Our goal is to share stories about companies that are using automation to succeed and compete effectively in their marketplace.

Lucky guesses or accurate predictions?

In 1962, Rosie, the robot, was more than just a maid to the Jetson family. Well, Toyota is working on such a robotic maid, which should be released in the next few years.

Next Great Thing: Chasing Innovative Products is a Long, Hard Trek

The boss challenge is to figure out which are the good ideas and which are great ideas. But the real innovator? Its the customer … he/she/they determine what idea is insanely great and which is…

CES Gets Robots All Wrong

We may have reached a tipping point where having a robot zone does everyone a disservice. Outside of a couple of very well known and popular robots, like Paro and Pleo, the robot zone was primarily filled with component company booths.

Eldercare Robots

Games, sensors and robots are among the tools beginning to come to market to help aging people live in their homes as long as possible.

Distribution Centers: An Emerging Robotics Frontier

This article originated as a profile of one company as they began to robotically augment distribution centers. But, as I gathered information, the story has morphed into a review of why Kiva Systems' innovative methods - the goods-to-man methodology - is far superior to other older styles of fulfillment.

Why you should care about the Uncanny Valley

As the demand for human-like robots grows, the Uncanny Valley phenomenon will impact robot manufacturers and developers more and more. With populations aging in countries as diverse as China and the United Sates, roboticists will increasingly focus on social robots. They will ignore the Uncanny Valley at their own risk.

Why are there more unmanned platforms than customers?

Why are unmanned systems developers offering so many different kinds of platforms and ideas, when there is comparatively little demand by the civilian market? Why are there more offerings than customers?

Eight Tips for Optimal Machine Vision Lighting

Tips for choosing the optimal lighting solution for a machine vision application.

Japan's Decline as a Robotics Superpower: Lessons From Fukushima

Robots were a major force in the automation drive that made Japan the most competitive nation in manufacturing in the 1980s. That glory seems to have faded in recent decades, and Japanese robotics are no exception.

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